Budget · 3-hour walk · Zurich
The Altstadt and the lake in three hours
The banking street, the two churches facing each other across the river, and the water at the end.
Zurich's old town is split by the Limmat and the two halves face each other across it, which makes this walk a figure of eight rather than a line. It is expensive to stop anywhere and free to walk all of it, and it ends at a lake that the city swims in from June.
The route, stop by stop
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Bahnhofstrasse
A kilometre of watch shops and bank headquarters, with roughly a fifth of the world's gold stored somewhere beneath it.
25 min here Walk here → -
Fraumunster
Five stained-glass windows by Chagall, installed when he was 83. Photography inside is forbidden and enforced.
25 min here Walk here → -
Grossmunster
The twin towers where Zwingli launched the Swiss Reformation in 1519. The tower climb is 187 steps.
30 min here Walk here → -
Lindenhof
A gravelled terrace on the site of the Roman fort, where old men play giant chess above the rooftops.
20 min here Walk here → -
Lake Zurich
The Burkliplatz end is where the river leaves the lake, and where the city swims off wooden platforms in summer.
30 min here Walk here →
More in Zurich
Every walking route in Zurich, or the full Zurich guide for where to stay and what a day costs.